Customer Reviews

Port Of Paradise

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once again Lisa Marie Rice has penned (or maybe PC'd) a wonderful book. The alpha hero has a polished veneer, and is even supplied with a charming mother, but when he focuses in on the heroine he may as well be Tarzan. The heroine is wary, but there is no way she will be able to evade her sexy Italian cop.

This story takes place in Italy, and has a strong sense of place.

Ms. Rice is a buried treasure. Find her, buy her books so she can write full time--I want more books!

This starts out a little oddly, with Hope dodging Franco, the charming, hunky Italian Policio. It becomes clearer as the story progresses that Hope's had some horrible experiences with law enforcement types who used their badges to belittle people and made her life hell.
Franco finally meets Hope and he discovers weird things are happening at Hope's home, which she borrows from her friend. The friend runs an English instruction school in Italy, which has some priceless broken syntax with these gentlemen trying to learn our nutty tongue and mangling it quite well. And the friend? Well, she's hospitalized and that's why Hope's even IN Italy to start with, she's dropped everything and moved to Italy to help her bud. Good trade for the inconvenience, though, since she finds the love of her life in the suave Franco.
I really liked him and meeting his Mama, who wanted her boy hitched and gave Hope a nudge with some style tips. It's not as if Hope had to have a make-over to catch Franco's attention: she's a blonde and that's rare in Southern Italy, but Ms. Rice aggravates poor old Franco by opening the eyes of EVERYONE who gets a glimpse of our girl once she gets a hair cut and some nifty clothes.
There are, as previously reviewed, some hot sex scenes and one in the police station that should have completely cured Hope's phobia about law enforcement. Yowza! Then again, in order to get a, uh, second dose of Franco's revolutionary treatment, I would have pleaded faintness, shortness of breath, dizziness and any manner of other symptoms.
Which brings me to another point: Ms. Rice can and does write strong Alpha men: police, military and ex-military men. Now, she should branch out a bit and write about at least one doctor. That's a natural for a potential love story. Romances started out with doctors and nurses or doctors and their patients, but it's not as popular these days. I have high hopes of what Ms. Rice could do with a man with a good bedside manner.
This is a previously published book that Ms. Rice has embroidered upon for fans of her books: "Midnight Man," "Midnight Run," and "Midnight Angel." While I totally love those stories, you must check out "Woman on the Run" as well. She's not written a bad book yet.

This is one of the earlier books written by a very talented author. Lisa Marie Rice. The heroine goes to Italy to help her friend run her English school while the friend is recovering in the hospital following a hit and run accident. Once she arrives different strange things begin to happen which eventually put her in danger. The police chief finds himself very drawn to her as he tries to uncover the mystery of what is really going on before she gets killed.

The pages get steamy when the two people become romantically involved. Ms Rice knows how to write very erotic love scenes that will have you looking for your own mate to let off a little steam.

Her stories including this one always have a likely alpha male hero who hides a loving heart under a gruff exterior. Unlike some heros her's always respect and admire the heroine. I strongly recommend this book and her "Midnight" series.

I'm a huge, if recent, Lisa Marie Rice fan. I gobbled up the Midnight series, then moved onto a Woman on the Run and the Dangerous Series. All of them follow a strict formula, which I don't mind, and even share a lot of the same phrasing, which I do mind, but I keep reading and enjoying anyways.

Port of Paradise actually breaks the mold more than most of her other books, but it's disappointingly bad. First of all, the point of view keeps switching around from paragraph to paragraph and it's distracting just trying to figure out who is thinking or talking. Secondly, while admittedly all of her couples are drawn by sexual interest first and foremost, there really seems to be nothing else going on besides that. He's controlling and a cop, which she hates. She's ... well, he doesn't really care about much except that she's beautiful.

Lastly, and probably the most damning for a Rice novel, the sex scenes are actually awkward. She always injects a few uncomfortable/unfunny scenes generally having to do with the man being so hot for her that he can't control himself. However, the women are generally indulgent or actually enjoy it. Here she seems rather bothered by it, mentioning in several instances that she can't breathe and just sort of ... waiting for him to move so she can. It feels less like a competent guy overcome by lust and more like sex with an incompetent guy.

I can give the disclaimer that the foreign Italian guy isn't really my type but that doesn't really explain it because neither is the military guy but she makes them hot in her other stories. *SPOILER ALERT* For example, he is mildly miffed when he realizes that she can out-swim him, but gets over it. Fine. Then he gets a thought - 'What if she knows martial arts and can kick my ass?' and is horrified by it. And then relaxes when she tells him nope, she doesn't do that. Um, what? No, getting your ass kicked by your girlfriend isn't the high point of pride, but if you're actually worried about it... uh, you deserve to get your pride kicked. I think of the guys from the Midnight series and I think they'd be proud if they're woman was a butt-kicking martial artist, and would be more amused and proud than horrified if she could manage to throw him.

About halfway through I skipped to the end just so I can read the happy ending, get some closure and move on to another book. Try just about any other Lisa Marie Rice book than this one...

YOU MIGHT LIKE...
Midnight Man (Midnight Series, Book 1)
Midnight Run (Midnight Series, Book 2)
Midnight Angel (Midnight Series, Book 3)
Woman on the Run
Dangerous Lover (Avon Red)

STORY BRIEF:
Hope is afraid of police because she was harassed and mistreated by them in the past. She was innocent but was a murder suspect for awhile. Hope's friend Kay went to Italy to run a school teaching English. Kay was hit by a car and is in the hospital. Kay asks Hope to come to Italy to manage the school temporarily. Hope is living in Kay's house. Someone has been trying to scare Hope by damaging property and slashing the tires on her car. Kay convinces Hope to talk to Franco, the local police chief. It's love at first sight for Franco. He arranges for police to provide around the clock security for Hope. He personally handles the night shift, sleeping with her.

REVIEWER'S OPINION (WITH MILD SPOILERS):
This was pretty good, but not as good as the author's other books. I suggest you read her other books first, and if you like her style then consider reading this. The hero/heroine characters are similar to those in her other books. My biggest problem was "stupid actions by Hope." A few examples of this were: Hope chased an armed bad guy while she was unarmed. Franco asked his friend to take Hope away from an area for her own safety, but she incorrectly assumed that Franco didn't like her anymore. Then she turned her cell phone off when it was supposed to be on for her security.

My second problem was more subjective. Somehow I wasn't as excited about the characters, their chemistry, and their relationship as I've been with the other books.

DATA:
Story length: 236 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: 7. Total number of sex scene pages: 40. Setting: current day southern Italy. Copyright: 2003. Genre: erotic romantic suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my reviews of other Lisa Marie Rice books, see my 4.5 star review of "Midnight Man" posted 3-17-09.

When Hope's friend Kay is the victim of a hit and run Hope drops everything and travels to Italy to help Kay. Hope ends up directing Kay's english school and staying at Kay's home, on the beach, but strange things start happening around the house. She hears voices, notices strange smells and started getting threatening phone calls. When Hope describes some of the happenings to Kay, Kay insists that she contact her friend Franco to see if he can help. The problem is that Hope is terrified of cops. When her stepfather died years ago she was the main suspect and dealt with police hostility for years following the event. When Kay persists, Hope agrees to contact Franco and she finds out he is in one of the english classes. When she goes to interrupt the class she immediately notices the handsome man sitting in the front and prays this is not the Franco that Kay was talking about, but it is.
Franco had been trying to talk to Hope ever since she got into town. As a friend of Kay he wanted to make sure everything was going ok with the new school director. When he saw her a few days before, entering the school, he could not believe how incredibly beautiful she was and he new he was going to have to have her.
Hope describes what's been going on at Kay's house and they decide to go to the house to have a look around. When they get there Hope notices the door is not locked. Immediately Franco pushes her to the side, tells her to stay put, and enters the house to see what is happening. The house was completely torn apart, but it does not appear that anything was stolen. When Hope sees someone running out the back, she gives chase.
Franco cannot believe his eyes. Hope just took off after the suspect and is chasing him down the beach...and she is gaining ground. He takes off after her, not knowing if the suspect is armed. As he draws near he sees the suspect stop, turn around, and aim a gun right at Hope's head. Franco makes a huge leap and tackles Hope into the water right as the gun goes off. As Franco looks up and sees that the suspect is gone he realizes that Hope needs a keeper, and he is just the man for the job.
Will Franco be able to help Hope overcome her fear of cops? What will happen when they realize that Kay's hit and run may have something to do with the strange happenings at her home? Read this book and find out.

This was a good plot with modern day situations. The tormented cop/cop weary relationship gave realism to the story the author weaved. Franco and Hope really heated the pages in their journey (my favorite was their tryst in the storage closet at the police headquarters). Lisa Marie Rice does not disappoint. I recommend this book and I will be checking out more from this author.

Franco is wonderful, Hope is a bit stupid at first and gets into trouble easily and thoughtlessly. The sex is very soon after they meet (the day of if I recall correctly, just as in Midnight Run but the circumstances are different here and dont work as well for me) but it is an erotic book so thats to be expected I guess. Overall enjoyable but not one I will keep.

Hope Winston has come to Italy to help her friend Kay out after Kay is in a car accident. Ater a series of strange events Hope is force to go the police. Captain Franco Rivera, is the head of the elite anit-mafia squad and he is quite taken with the pretty American. The passion between Hope and Franco is there also most the moment they meant. But Hope is distrustful of the police, but with the danger rising she may have no choice but Franco with her very life.
"Ports of Paradise" by Lisa Marie Rice is a very sexy read. Franco is truly a man who would do anything to protect the woman that his loves. The characters were very likeable and the overall story was good, but I wound not have mind if it had been a little longer. Overall its a good read to pass some time.

I read all the other books by Lisa Marie Rice and thought that I would try this one out as well. Was not disappointed. It makes a good light read.

Lisa Marie Rice is the real deal. I admit, I wasn't anxious to read the story with a foreign hero as the romantic interest, but once I started the book, I was hooked. Rice can write. What's more, she can write suspense, romance, and erotica. Rice has it all, and she delivers in 'Port of Paradise'. I'm keeping my copy.